Wish I Was There - Holidays and The Great Outdoors

Well with June here maybe some of us have already had a holiday - or are planning one.

Perhaps you're just looking at holiday pictures and thinking "Wish I Was There" or something similar.

Couldn't help notice this picture today


It is Blackpool Sands, South Devon

Backed by evergreens and scented pines, Blackpool Sands has more than a whiff of the Mediterranean. The beach is privately managed and has kept its standards high, making it one of the most popular family beaches in the region.

The waters are unusually clear and the beach is cleaned on a daily basis. As well as the usual showers, toilets and disabled facilities, Blackpool Sands also has sand pits so that the kids can enjoy safe and supervised play.

Sounds great doesn't it  

Have you any favourite places ?

All the best Jan

I've not had the pleasure of visiting The Norwegian Fjords ... but my parents did many years ago now. They said the scenery was fantastic ...  

All the best Jan

Have to say over my 60+ years, I have visited and enjoyed Eastbourne, and the surrounding area, many times, at one time my God-parents lived in Eastbourne ... Happy Memories and we didn't even mind the pebbly beach either, when the tide was out the sand was great for building sandcastles, exploring rock-pools. The Punch and Judy Show always left a smile on our faces as we sat on the grassy bank watching with all the others.

All the best Jan

Well do you wish you were in Salcombe (or lived there) ... "Salcombe in Devon has been named as Britain's most expensive seaside town to buy a home.

A survey of house prices in 196 seaside towns across the country by Halifax found that with a typical value of £672,874, homes in Salcombe are the most costly.

Residents and visitors to the area can enjoy sailing in the estuary as well as walks along the coastal footpath to take in the stunning scenery."

Devon and, its nearby neighbour, Cornwall are very popular Counties that many families enjoy holiday visits too... and if you are fortunate to live there, well it must be nice!

More On This Story Here

http://money.aol.co.uk/2015/05/26/salcombe-priciest-for-seaside-homes/?icid=money|editor_picks

Perhaps you may have a favourite place?

All the best Jan

I was reading an article on AOL recently and it featured this lovely colourful picture. I believe it is Copenhagen. Well known for being a bike city ... "Copenhagen is famous for its bicycle culture and cycling locals. Life in Copenhagen is lived in the saddle of a bicycle.In Copenhagen people bike whether there is sun, rain or snow." Read more about Copenhagen here

http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen-tourist



Have you ever visited ?

(Please note I have no affiliation to the Copenhagen tourist board! )

All the best Jan

And I'm off to Cumbria for a long weekend for my mates birthday bash  I shall be sampling a few new to me cask ales

OK we had a great few days away. Graham, who most folks take to be my dad had a great time. Got a few piccies and will post up when I have a had a chance to down load the cameras. In the meantime a pic of my old mate Graham. Well he is a skinny bugger.

In the north of the Greek Ionian island of Zakynthos at an area called Skinari you will find the magnificent Blue Caves. (pictured above) The Blue Caves are one of the islands most famous natural attractions and were discovered in 1897 by Antonio Komouto. The caves attract thousands of visitors each year and are located just below the lighthouse at Cape Skinari.
The caves owe there name to the blue waters inside them. Objects below the water appear to turn blue. This includes people who can enter the water inside the caves to swim.

Read more here

http://www.zakynthostravelguide.com/2012/10/visit-blue-caves-in-zakynthos.html

This place is rated in one of the top 25 places to visit before you die, read more here

http://travelmonster.me/2015/05/25-most-beautiful-places-you-must-visit-before-you-die/23/

All the best Jan

Looks a lovely place doesn't it ... and do you want to know where you can get peace and quiet in Britain? Apparently you should head for North East England to Kielder Forest in the beautiful county of Northumberland to experience the UK's most tranquil spot.

According to a professor of acoustic engineering, this area has less noise than anywhere else in the country - so it's perfect for anyone who needs to get away from it all on an off-the-beaten-track holiday.

Read more here http://travel.aol.co.uk/2014/01/05/england-quietest-place-revealed/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk6%26pLid%3D370337

All the best Jan

Here's where I was today

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.aspx

sorry the website is so naff

Some of you may have seen it on Springwatch.

No great rarities but loads of the regular common stuff and some less common but expected birds.

Here are some of the other places I go.

Even some of the farmland as well as the heaths and commons and estuaries are full of wildlife, one evening last winter coming back from a nearby village the pretty way I saw FIVE different barn owls.

No motorways, the main A12 has less traffic than some B roads in Surrey/Sussex, there are a few military aircraft but not often recently.

Yes if I had to move from here I might consider the Northumbrian coast. Pretty sure I can remember that reservoir being built.

There may be better images, but looking at your 'here' link I spotted Southwold on the map. Well known for beach huts!

Seriously a lovely and interesting place to visit! Southwold is a small town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty


All the best Jan

chris c wrote:Here's where I was today

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.aspx

sorry the website is so naff

Some of you may have seen it on Springwatch.

No great rarities but loads of the regular common stuff and some less common but expected birds.

Here are some of the other places I go.

Even some of the farmland as well as the heaths and commons and estuaries are full of wildlife, one evening last winter coming back from a nearby village the pretty way I saw FIVE different barn owls.

No motorways, the main A12 has less traffic than some B roads in Surrey/Sussex, there are a few military aircraft but not often recently.

Yes if I had to move from here I might consider the Northumbrian coast. Pretty sure I can remember that reservoir being built.

"the main A12 has less traffic than some B roads in Surrey/Sussex"

Jeez Chris cut down on the spliffs mate. We used to work in Colchester and other places off the A12 on a regular basis and the traffic was grim.

Just up the road! The coast here is the exact opposite of the south coast - wild from end to end, with the occasional town like Southwold or Aldeburgh, or the Big Cities like Lowstuff or Yarmuff.

It's not been overpopulated yet, the infrastructure is still human-sized. Same for a lot of Narflk except for bits of the north coast like around Wells AKA Chelsea On Sea, and significant parts of Essex.

I was born and brought up in Surrey, we used to visit Sussex a lot, Brighton and the south downs. Later I lived in the north east, Cumbria and the West Country, and when I was a trucker my main area was south and west Wales, so I've been around a bit.

Your pictures of Copenhagen (where I've also been) look a bit like Holland too, and there's some of that architecture here too as we used to be part of the Hanseatic League.

Last time I had a "holiday" was 2011: I went to the New Forest in August which was a mistake as it was full! I rented a cottage in Beaulieu, visited relatives then in Southampton and did some photography at a vintage farming do, and revisited a lot of the places from my childhood - it was my father's favourite place. Since then I've seldom left Suffolk, and then only to go to Norfolk, and Essex once but I think I got away with it.

Eddie wrote:

"the main A12 has less traffic than some B roads in Surrey/Sussex"

Jeez Chris cut down on the spliffs mate. We used to work in Colchester and other places off the A12 on a regular basis and the traffic was grim.

Ah, you didn't go far enough north! Yes I remember the journey well when we used to live in Surrey/Sussex and visit here regularly (I even remember back before the M25 and Dartford Tunnel).

Between Colchester and Ipswich it calms down a lot ( a bit like going from Acton to Ealing for you Londoners <G>) and by the time you get here it's relatively deserted. In the meantime though, mainly due to the expansion of Felixstowe, the once laid back A14 has become much more loaded with traffic. Nothing stays the same.

This pic taken on my phone, a photographer that never has a camera with him This is a shot from the cliff tops at Barton-On-Sea today, the wind very near blew my rug off. Jan and me moved down there twenty years ago and went into semi retirement. The 2008 recession, the Banking crisis and some less than stellar decisions made by me, and the dream came to an end. So back to London and back on the treadmill and money pump. Walking the cliff tops today and feeling zero pain, with a fair wind and a half chance, back in two years time for good.

Eddie,If you can-you should mate!! Even if it's a mobile home...It looks real nice there and if I could I'd ditch the town for the coast like a shot!

Looks lovely Eddie. I hope you get back there soon. Money ain't everything. As Paul says, just get what you can afford, downsize. You only need 1 bedroom, a camera, laptop and a wine rack ;-)

Thank you Paul. I am not a religious person, but I believe in fate and destiny. I believe nothing is written, we can influence our own destiny. We all get dealt some good and bad hands. It is how we play the hands that makes all the difference. I try to live to these great words. But one tough gig. I only need one person to make sense of it all, and I am married to her.

By Rudyard Kipling 1865–1936

If you can keep your head when all about you  
   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
   But make allowance for their doubting too;  
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
   Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
   And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  
   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
   And treat those two impostors just the same;  
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
   Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
   And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
   And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
   To serve your turn long after they are gone,  
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
   Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  
   Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
   If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
   With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  
   And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!